


For forever

by Lilly_Shiba_01



Series: Nathalie AU [7]
Category: Glee RPF
Genre: Coming Out, Light Angst, M/M, Married Chris Colfer/Darren Criss, Nathalie is an OC, this time intentionally
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-03
Updated: 2020-02-03
Packaged: 2021-02-28 07:20:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,001
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22540000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lilly_Shiba_01/pseuds/Lilly_Shiba_01
Summary: This is it, isn't it? This is the moment he has dreaded for so long. This is his coming out.
Relationships: Chris Colfer/Darren Criss
Series: Nathalie AU [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1405741
Comments: 1
Kudos: 8





	For forever

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome everyone, I hope you had a great start into the new decade.   
> Besides this story I have two others waiting to be finished that will also go into this universe and an idea for a third story. While I don't know how you will like this one or the next one, I'm pretty sure you will like the third one. When the next two are coming out I'm not going to say yet, but it'll be in a pretty short time. Maybe I find time to write a story for Valentine's day too, but I don't know because I have to finish writing my college application story and send it in February, write exams, study for my finals, study for my role in a musical, etc.

After months and months of talking, of having brought up every argument under the sun, even finding some of the internet, of discussing those until there was nothing more to discuss, he still wasn't sure if he actually was ready. Sure, he knew that no matter what, his family would always have his back, especially Chris, but it still didn't help with his anxiety. This couldn't just ruin his career, but also the ones of Chris and Nathalie. Hell, it even could destroy any chances of an acting career for Marcia if she ever wanted to pursue on.   
“You still have the chance to change the topics for tonight's interview.” Kaylee, his new PR manager, said, suddenly showing up behind him. She had been recommended to him by both Alla and Anastasia, Nathalie's PR manager. It had always been important to Chris that his Nathalie's PR teams would have the same interests in things that involved them as a family without there being a conflict of interests. This was why Stasia, how Anastasia was called by her clients and friends, suggested Kaylee. With Nathalie now grown up, most things didn't involve the 20-year-old anymore, so Stasia's approval wasn't needed anymore, though she still liked getting a heads up about anything that might also involve Nathalie.   
Kaylee was around Chris' age, but more professional than people Darren had met who were twice his age. She keeps Stasia up to date with everything, so that the other woman would never be blindsided. When Darren had told her the idea for this interview, she had been exited. While she didn't grow up with LGBTQ friends, her college roommate was part of the community and showed her how important those things were to them.   
“I'm okay,” Darren said. Or at least I hope I will be, he added in his thoughts. This was kind of the second make-it-or-break-it point of his career.   
“Sure.” She didn't sound convinced. “You know that no matter what, your kids will always love you, right?”   
Darren nodded wordlessly. Rationally he knew that it was true, but some part of his brain still questioned this. He would just need his stupid brain to shut up, and then everything would be okay again.   
“Everything's going to be okay.” Darren looked up to find Chris standing in the door to the dressing room with Cory on his arm. The toddler had launched himself at his father the moment he saw him coming home and only let him go when he fell asleep. A few years ago, Darren probably would have been jealous at Chris for being the favorite parent of their son, but he had learned since that children change who their favorite parent is more often than their underwear if they aren't reminded to do so daily. Also, Cory hadn't seen Chris in over a month, the longest he hadn't seen any of his parents.   
“I know,” Darren answered, smiling at Chris.   
Chris smiled back at him. “Sure you do, but there's still part of your brain that is preparing itself for the worse.” He said softly. He knew Darren too well. Being married for nearly seven years, knowing each other for over 9,5 years, kind of does that.  
Chris leaned into Darren, to kiss him, with Cory still on his arm. “You can do it. Now go out there and charm the shit out of everybody.” Chris whispered into Darren's ear, quietly enough so that Cory wouldn't hear it. He loved to repeat a lot of the things that he heard nowadays. 

Not long after that Darren was sitting across from Jimmy Fallon, while he secretly wished he could do this with Ellen instead, she was in LA and he was in NYC. Sure, he could have flown out to LA, but he didn't have any time for that, at least not right now. Not with his Broadway show and when the twins had a long weekend off of school, during which they, Chris, Nathalie, and Josh had come out to NYC.   
“It's so great to see you again,” Jimmy said after the applause had died down. Darren wondered if the audience would still be this enthusiastic after they found out the truth.   
“It is great to be back.”   
“You have been extremely busy over the last months, being on Broadway again and moving to New York. You also found time to go to Nathalie Colfer's wedding last month. How do you do it?” Jimmy asked.   
“Well, I have a great support system, who is helping a lot, despite us moving away from them. Sadly I had to miss Nathalie's reception that day, but I was there for the important part.” Darren joked.   
“Why New York, though? What is at the east coast that the west coast doesn't have?”   
“We love LA and the west coast in general, but over the last few years, LA had become very toxic for us. It became very clear to us in early 2019, but we didn't start looking for houses until the summer. At the point when we had narrowed the search down and started visiting some, some other things had changed, so we decided to not move in January when our lease was up, but during summer break.” Darren explained  
“Didn't you just bought a house in LA last winter?”  
“No, that was Mia on her own. I didn't even know about it until it was in the press suddenly. The last house I bought in LA was in 2013.”   
“I'm guessing the reasons for your move have something to do with the picture your brother Chuck posted on Instagram recently.”   
Jimmy shows a picture that was taken in April. Darren was half sitting, half laying on a couch, both Dylan Grace and Cory were laying on his chest, while Julian and Connor were sitting on the couch too, and Marcia was sitting on the floor with Rosemary.   
“Yeah, it does,” Darren said smilingly.  
“I must say you have adorable kids.”   
“Thanks, but I can only take credit for half of them.” He jokingly said.   
Jimmy laughed before he continued. “It took me quite some time, until I noticed it, but is that a photo of Chris Colfer and you in the background?”  
“I hope it is; if not, I might be in a lot of trouble when I get home.” Honestly, Darren had been a bit scared, when Chuck first posted the picture a few days ago, that people would notice the picture, but all comments were about the kids.   
“If you look closely, it looks like a wedding picture.”  
“That might be because it's one.”

The rest of the interview went by in a flash, Darren felt like in one moment he was talking to Jimmy Fallon, and the next he was sitting next to Chris in a car back home. He could hear the quiet sound of the radio; it was like the calm before the storm. The storm that would happen the next day, when his interview would be aired. Darren had his head on Chris' shoulder, while the younger man was looking out of the window and combing through the hair of his husband. The drive from the NBC studio to their house wasn't that long, half an hour max if they had bad traffic. For a moment, Darren thought he had seen them drive past Central Park, but it also could have been his imagination.   
“We're nearly home, just turned onto Park Avenue,” Chris whispered into his ear. So he wasn't going crazy, and he did see Central Park.   
“We should take the kids to the park soon,” Darren suggested, despite them both knowing that soon wouldn't be that soon. Chris, Marcia, and Julian would fly back to LA the next day, while Nathalie and Josh would be spending a couple more days in the city. Darren himself had to be at the theater the next day again. They probably would spend a lot of time at Central Park during the summer break, after they had moved to New York too, and the press lost their interest in him again.   
“Soon,” Chris whispered before he leaned forward to the driver. “You can let us out at the curb.”

A few hours after they had gotten home, it was already dark outside, Darren woke up to Nathalie standing in the doorway. After he and Chris had gotten home, they had a light dinner and then went upstairs. Apparently, Nathalie and Josh had taken her siblings out for a stroll and dinner at a restaurant, or that was the plan. They must have fallen asleep at one point because while they were under the covers, they still wore their street clothes.   
Nathalie smiled at him softly. Was this how she always felt when they were out and checked on her when they'd come home? “I just wanted to tell you guys that we all are back. All three kids are sleeping, and Josh and I are going to bed now too. See you tomorrow.” She said and closed the door again. Darren heard her soft footsteps as she walked downstairs.   
Due to how the house was built, the kids' bedrooms where upstairs, together with one guestroom, which was more of a toy storage room for both kids and dog toys. On their floor, they had their master bedroom together with the playroom for the children and their actual storage room for towels, bedding, and other stuff of that kind. On the floor below them were Nathalie's room and one of the guest rooms, even though Nathalie's room would also be used as a guest room if she wasn't in New York. When they had looked into buying the house, they hadn't know if Nathalie would also want to move to New York or if she wanted to stay in LA. Just like both Darren and Chris had their childhood bedrooms, they wanted for Nathalie to have a room just for herself whenever she would come to visit. Despite it also being a guest bedroom, the chances that it might actually be used as one were pretty small. They had plenty of other rooms. 

Two days later was when the full chaos started. Darren, Nathalie, Josh, and Cory were just having a late breakfast on their rooftop terrace when it all blew up. It had been first only Darren's phone that started ringing, but after he muted it, Nathalie's also started to go crazy. The internet seemed to finally catch up with what had happened the last night, and Darren feels like he has to do some kind of statement, anything. Just to let people know that the interview won't change anything, that he's still the person he was before the interview aired, only that know they all know his true self too.   
He feels like he has to make some kind of statement about his sexuality, despite nobody having asked him to do so, but Kaylee calls them on their landline, telling him to do nothing of that kind. If he feels like he has to do something, he should rather post something about the weekend that Marcia and Julian were in New York. Or maybe what they are doing right now, to show that life goes on.   
Darren wants to do that. He wants to show the world his “little” perfect family, something he couldn't do before, but he and Chris had decided long ago not to let their children's names get out to the public so that it would be the twins and their youngest. Instead of doing that, he posts a picture of Nathalie, Cory, and Josh playing from a few months ago on Instagram and Twitter after he left the house to get to the theater, leaving Cory with them instead of at daycare. You can't see Cory's face in it, but you can see his curls. So lucky that CL has such an amazing big sister who loves teaching him words like quadrillion.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you guys liked this story, maybe enough to leave a review with how you liked it or constructive criticism. Or just any kind of acknowledgement that you actually read it and didn't just click on it by accident.


End file.
